Mechanism for use in the manufacture of artificial silk



July 16, 1940.

MECHANISM FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL SILK Filed July 13,19,38

2 Sheets-Sheet l P. P. KRlEK 2,207,866

P. P. KRIEK 2,207,866 MECHANISM FOR USE IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIALSILK July 16, 1940.

Filed July 13, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :15 w an kw Patented July 16, 1940MECHANISM FOR USE IN THE MANUFAC v TURE F ARTIFICIAL SILK 7 Peter P.Kri'ek, Enka, N. 0., assignor to American Enka Corporation, Enka, N. 0.,a corporation of Delaware Application July 13, 1938 Serial No. 219,081

Claims.

This, invention relates to power transmitting mechanisms in which thespeed of operation of the driven means may be varied a small, degreewith precision, and more particularly the invention relates to means forspinning artificial silk comprising a differential gearing havingincluded therein transmission mechanism such as epicyclic transmissionfor driving godets .at controlled speeds and for effecting smallpercentage speed variations in the travel of the filaments beingspunduring the relatively long period involved in a complete spinningoperation.

I Transmissiondevices for general use in which variable speed controlsare incorporated. are well known and numerous types of transmissions ofthis general character have been adapted to perform special functions inthe different arts. However, the heretofore known devices failed invarious respects. to satisfactorily solve the problems encountered incertain of the more ex-v acting manufacturing processes and therefore insuch manufacture, special mechanism had to be devised before specificproblems could be over come. g i

One specific problem that has been encountered in the spinning ofartificial silk and which is present inother arts wherein a plurality ofdriven means are operated at-speeds that must be changed a small degreeduring a relatively longperiod of operation is the provision ofcontrollmeans for changing the speeds of the driven means with therequired precision.

a It is an object of this invention to overcome the problem specificallymentioned above and to provide a mechanism wherein precision ingradation in speed of driven means may be accom-. plished in a simpleand relatively inexpensive manner. 3' p This, invention contemplates .amechanism in which a plurality of driven means are each ope erated atdifferent relativespeeds from power sources operating at constant speedsand in which a common means is utilized for efiecting a small percentageof relative speed change in each driven means.

Specifically in its relation to-the, art of producing artificial silk,this invention includes-the provision of a mechanism in which succeedingportionsof freshly formed plastic filaments are caused to be varyinglystretched during acornplete spinning operation by being propelled overgodets, the peripheral speeds of which are ac-' package form to havedifferent afiinity for dye between the yarn constituting the innerconvolutions of the package and the yarn constituting the outerconvolutions of the package A further object of this invention is theprovision of atransmission mechanism for an arti- 5 ficial silk spinningapparatus by which the extruded filaments or yarn are caused to bestretched in the general manner and for the purposes well known in theart to a heretofore unattainabledegree of accuracy. The mechanismspecifically contemplated includes a planetary transmission for eachgo'det or series of godets driven from the same shaft, and a singlechange speed unitconnected to all of the planetary transmissions s'othatthe movement of the epicycloidal ge'arsof the respectivetransmission is controlled by this single change speed unit and so thata relatively large movement in the control unit is necessary in order toobtain relatively slight and hence accurate changes in the speeds of therespective godets. I Additionally, the present invention contemplatesthe driving of a godet of a rayon spinning machine, or other machinerywhich requires a very slow and small speed variation, in such mannerthat instead of the .direct varying of the speed of the driven member bythe utiliza tion of one of the commercially available variable speeddrives with resultantinaccuracies, the final speed is compoundedby meansof a form' of differential gearing, in which one of the components is aconstant one and the other component is derived from a variable speedunit therebypermitting. utilization of a much larger variation range inthe variable speed unit than is'possible whenthe speed of the drivenmember I is had by direct variation.

' Other objects and advantages will be'apparent from aconsideration ofthe following detailed de-' scription when considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings, wherein: h

' Figurefl illustrates one form of the present inventionjwhich is shownfor the purpose of exemplification incorporated in an apparatus forspinning artificial silk; Figure 2 is asec'tional view taken online 2 2ofcFigure 1;

Figure a detailed sectional view taken on line3,- 3,'of.Figure 2; and

Figure?! 'and,5 are detailed sectional views of v a. type of vcliar'igespeed mechanism which has been, foundjparticularly suitedfor utilizationin the j present complete transmission mechanisms;

In the comput spinning apparatus illustrated diagrammatically infi u el, a spinning or cdagulating bath i0 is contained in a suitablereceptacle I I and a freshly formed filament or filaments I2 have beenextruded into the bath through the spinneret I3. Filaments or yarn I2are drawn from the bath and conducted to and around godet I4 and thentoand around godet I5. After being passed over godet I5 the filamentsare delivered to a collecting device I6 which is diagrammatically shownin the form of a centrifugal pot.

While only one set of cooperating godets I4 and I5 have been illustratedin the drawings, it is to be understood that a plurality of sets ofgodets may be utilized depending upon the number of threads being spun,and that the transmissionmechanism hereinafter referred to can beutilized to control the operation of many sets of similar godets, thespeed of which has to be controlled in the same manner.

The detailed transmission mechanism for op erating godets I4 and I5 ismore fully illustrated in Figure 2 of the drawings and while thisdetailed mechanism is particularly adapted for use in a spinningapparatus as illustrated in Figure 1, it is clear that it is alsosuitable for use in propelling any plurality of driven means, whereinthere is a cooperative relation between the driven means, and they areto be propelled at speeds which are changed in small degrees relative toeach other during a period of relatively long duration. For'the purposeof this description, however, the driven means will be defined asgodets. I

A shaft II, mounted for rotation in suitable bearings and driven from asource of power (not shown), has a gear I8 fixed thereto, which gearmeshes with gear I9 supported upon a shaft 20. Shaft extends through abearing 2| arranged in the upper portion of support 22 and it has fixedto its end remote from gear I9 another gear 23. Gear 23 meshes with gear24 and gear 24 is vfixed to a shaft 25 which constitutes a part of aplanetary transmission designated generally as 26. A circular plateprovided with an annular flange to form a dish-shaped enlargement onshaft 25 is designated by numeral 21 and an orbit or ring gear isinternally arranged within the annular flange at 28. Shaft 25 is mountedin bearings 29 arranged in a tubular extension 30 of a housing 3I whichencloses and supports the planetary transmission.

The housing 3I is supported by means of a tubular extension 32 secured'in' a support 33. This extension containsbe'arings 34 in whichismounted a tubular shaft 35 provided with a spider 36 at its inner end.Three epicycloidal planet pinions 31 are mounted upon the legs of thespider by means of shafts 38. v

Godet wheel I4 is caused to be rotated by shaft 39 upon which it iscarried, the shaft 39 extending through bearings 40 in tubular shaft 35.The end of shaft 39 is received in a journal 4| arranged in the base ofthe'dish member 21. Between spider 36 and bearing 4I is a sun gear 42which is keyed to shaft 39' and is' in constant mesh with theepicycloidal planet pinions 3I. Tubular shaft 35 is provided. at itsouter end with a spur wheel 43 which meshes with pinion ,44 mounted upona shaft 45, which shaft operates in bearings 46 arranged in support 33 Agear 47 is secured to theshaft at its end oppositeto pinion 44 and this"gear 41 meshes with gear 48 which constitutes a part of a change speedmechanism 49. Thechange speed mechanism 49 may be of any of the wellknown commercial types such as that shown, in which the speed change ispreferably infinitely variable, that is, without step by step operation.In the particular type of change speed mechanism 49 illustrated, ahousing 50 is provided which contains a shaft 5I mounted for rotation inbearings 52 and 53 contained in the side walls of the housing.

Shaft 5| has keyed thereto a sprocket wheel v54, or its equivalent,adapted to be driven from a suitable source of power (not shown) whichis operated at a constant speed. Parallel to shaft 5| is another shaft55. Shaft 55 is similarly mounted in the walls of the hoiising 50 of thechange other and the pair of cones 51 to approach each other when theyare pivoted in one direction and the opposite movement to be effectedbetween the respective cones when the'levers are moved in ment of therespective cones with which belt 58 engages.

Toggle 6! may be automatically moved from the shaft onwhich it ismounted through the medium of a reduction gear (notshown) which may beconnected to a suitable source of power.

It is preferable to drive the shaft of the toggle at a constant speed.

Another planetary transmission 62 is arranged to drive the godet I5, thetransmission being substantially identical with planetary transmission26. Planetary transmission 62 is driven at a constant speed by shaft 63from a source of po-wer (not shown) and the power istransmitted to theorbit gear 64 through the medium of'reduction gears 65. A spider 66carries the planet epicy cloidal gears 61 which are meshed with orbitgear 62' and sun gear 68. The. spider 66 is rotated by means of gear 69which gear 69 is connected to change speed mechanism 49 through themedium of an idler gear III, a pinion -II, shaft I2, gear I3 and thegear 48.

In operation, if R represents the number of teeth on the orbit gear andS represents the number of teeth on the sun gear, gears will have teeth.Then if T and 1') represent the number of revolutions per minute made bythe orbit gear and the spider that carries the planet gears,respectively, and s the revolutions per minute of the sun gear, then I10 determines the variable component of the re sultant speed and-r theconstant component inthen the planet mes the present arrangement andconditi'ons 'can. be

chosen so that a large change in only a smallchange ins; 1

It is this principle which isutilized in the apparatushere involved and'in the practicing of the present method. In thespinning' ofrayon yarnit is quite customary togradually change the speeds of the respectivegodets, andthese changes are relatively small and gradual during aperiod which may extend over several hours. In some instances when theinitial speed of a godet is-200 revolutions per minute, the finalspeedis increased only to 205 revolutions' per minute, under suchcircumstances. Howeverfsince the desired speeds of the godets and thevariations in the speeds thereof during. the spinning operations and thepurposes of such modifications are well known in the artthe'various'speeds of propulsion of the plastic filamentsby-therespective godets will not be specifically discussed. Furthermore,the pump speeds for causing extrusion of the solution into the spinningbath and the cooperating speeds of rotation of the respective godetstogether with the changes made in these speeds will not be specified asit will suff ce to' point-out' that by slight changes in the gear ratiosand propulsion speeds of the driving shafts the' present completeapparatus may be utilizedto obtain theutmost 4) will effect accuracy inthe production of artificial silk as well as in the production of otherproducts requir ing precision in speed'changes' of driven shafts. Toillustrate the applicability of the above general formula of the presentinvention, let us assume that the initial speed of a godet is 200revolutions per minute whichis. supposed to in.- crease during a periodof several-hours to 205 revolutions per minute. Now if the constantcomponent w whereas, without the differential gearing the variable speedmechanism would be required to produce directly the speeds from 200 to205 or only 2 increase. Thus the arrangement in this particular caseincreases the working range of the variable speed mechanism ten times,thereby making it far less susceptible to errors. Since means employedheretofore for eifecting such small increases in speed have proved forthe greater part unsatisfactory and unreliable, the problem of accuratecontrol was present but the use of the epicyclic gear system and thecontrol of the speed of the spider 36 which carries the planetary gears31, permits a small percentage of change in the speed of the sun gearrelative to that of the driving orbit gear to be efiected by a largepercentage change in the speed of the spider.

While the operation set forth has been described in connection with theplanetary gear system for godet I5 the described operation is alsoapplicable to the planetary gear system that drives the godet l4.However, in the operation of the completev apparatus as illustrated inFig ure 2, eachtransmi'ssion 26 and ML-iscause'd to be propelled in amanner so as to effect different speeds 'of-rotation of the-godetsaccording tothe particular 1. spinning operation being utilized. Thespeed-of thespider 36xthrough the sleeve and the gears 43-, 44, 41, and48 can be controlled by the conventional speed change mechamenu 49,which at the same time controls the speed of the spider 66 throughthe-gear train comprising the gears 48, 13, H, 10, and 69.. It will benoted that the last gear train recited includes an idler gear 10 whichis adapted to drive the gear 69 an opposite direction to .thatin whichthe gear 43= ,is=driven. By properly selectingthe-gears for these twogear trains, it is -pos-- sible to-drive the "spider 66 at such a speed.that the sun gear 68 and the godet [5 that issecured to the same shaftcan be made to rotate in the same direction. as the sun gear 42 and thegodet to be in any desired proportion. ,Once established thisrelativejspeed. will remain-constant except for the smallchange effected bythesuperimposed variable speed originating from the variable speedmechanism 49. However, .by

changing thisrelative driving speed, considerable flexibility of thecontrol of the relative godet speeds is attained. 1 v

It will be seen'that by selecting a proper ;predetermined speed for eachof the shafts l1 and 63 the godets l4 and I5 may be caused to be rotatedat any-desired respectivespeeds and that the speed of each may bechanged through the medium of.- the change speed mechanism 49 so as tocause the speeds of the godets to decrease simultaneously, to increasesimultaneously, or

each godet, a planetary transmission for each godet comprising anepicyclic gear train, each epicyclic gear train consisting of a sungear, a set of planet gears mounted on a rotatable support and meshingwith the sun gear, and an orbit gear meshing with the planet gears,means 'for driving one part of the epicyclic gear train at apredetermined constant speed. a progressively .changeable speedpropulsion mechanism, means connecting the speed changemechanism toanother part of the epicyclic gear train to thereby cause a compoundedresultant speed change of each of the godets, said resultant speedchange of each godet being in such a ratio as to cause the second godetto be propelled at a higher speed than the draw-01f godet, thereby toeffect a stretching of filaments being propelled between the godets.

2. In a spinning apparatus for the production of artificial silkprovided with a spinneret for sion for driving the second godet shaft,each of said transmissions having a sun gear, a set of planet gearsmeshing with ,thesungear mounted upon a rotatable support for movementabout the sun gear, and an orbit gear, means for driving the orbit gearof each transmission at a predetermined constant speed, a progressivelychangeable speed propulsion mechanism, means for connecting the changespeed mechanism with the support for the planet gears .of thetransmission for driving the draw-off godet, and means for connectingthe change speed mechanism with the support for the planet gears of thetransmission for driving the second godet at a ratio to cause the secondgodet to be propelled at a higher speed than the draw-off godet, therebyto effect a stretching of the filaments being propelled between thegodets.

3. In a spinning apparatus for the production of artificial silkprovided with a spinneret for extruding filaments, a draw-off godet forthe newly formed filaments and. a second godet for effecting a stretchin the newly formed filaments being propelled between the godets, ashaft for each godet, a planetary transmission for driving the draw-offgodet shaft, a planetary transmission for driving the second godetshaft, each of said transmissions having a sun gear fixed to its godetshaft with -a set of planet gears meshing with the sun gear and mountedupon a rotatable support for movement about the sun gear, and an orbitgear, means for driving the orbit gear of each transmission at apredetermined constant speed, a progressively changeable speedpropulsion mechanism, a gear keyed to the rotatable support for theplanet gears of the transmission for the draw-off godet, reductiongearing connecting the changeable speed propulsion mechanism to saidlast mentioned gear, a gear key to the rotatable support for the planetgears of the transmission for the second godet, reduction gearingconnecting the changeable speed propulsion mechanism to said lastmentioned gear of the second godet transmissiomthe reduction gearingconnecting the changeable speed propulsion mechanism to the transmissionfor said second godet including an idler gear for causing the rotatablesupport for the set of planet gears of said transmission to be driven ina direction opposite to the direction in which the rotatable support ofthe transmission for the draw-off godet is driven, whereby a relativelylarge variation in the speed of the changeable speed pro pulsionmechanism maybe utilizedin connection with the constant speed orbit geardriving means of each transmission, to effect a slight degree. of changein the respective speeds of rotation of the godets over a long period ofoperation.

4. Driving mechanism comprising a of driven shafts, a planetarytransmission for each shaft including a sun gear connected to the shaft,a spider carrying a set of planet gears meshing with the sun gear, anorbit gear meshing with the set of planet gears adapted to be operatedat a constant speed and a gear bywhich the spider may be rotated, achange speed mechanism, the spider of each transmission through themedium of its said gear being connected to said change speed mechanismand being caused to be rotated thereby at a varied speed whereby wheneach of the orbitgears is operated at a constant speed, the movement ofeach spider with its respective set of planet gears will effect avariation in the speed of 'that shaft drivenby the transmission whichincludes the respective planet gears.

5. Driving mechanism comprising a plurality of driven shafts, aplanetary transmission for each shaft including a sun gear connected tothe shaft, a spider carrying a set of planet gears meshing with the sungear, an orbit gear meshing with the set of planet gears adapted to beoperated at a constant speed and a gear secured to each spider forrotating the same, a reduction gearing assembly connected to the gearsecured to one of the spiders, a reduction gearing assembly connected tothe gear securedto another of the spiders, a change speed mechanism fordriving both reduction gearing assemblies, the

reduction gearing assemblies being of different ratio thereby to causethe movement of said plurality spiders with their respective set ofplanet gears about their sun gears at different speedsso that when theorbit gears of the transmissions are operated at constant speedsmodification of the speed of operation of the change speed mechanismwill effect a different variation in the speeds of the respective drivenshafts.

PETER P. KRIEK.

